Hi all,
First of all - thanks to Grave for a great Mod Pack. I haven't found a good Mod Pack since Sevomod, so it was great to see that HiTM contains all the features I like. However, there are of course a few of the changes and additions I'm not too excited about, but it's a lot less than what I've seen in other current Mod Packs.
The two issues on the top of my list are as follows:
1) Cuirasser: it made sense to include a cavalry unit to fill the gap between Knights and Cavalry, but I think Firaxis forgot to include a counter unit. The Cuirasser is available too early, which results in the AI creating huge stacks with Cuirassers and Trebuchets only. In HiTM this is even worse since the Cannon has been moved from Steel to Gunpowder, so the AI stacks are now Cuirassers and Cannons only. An early gunpowder siege unit could be a "Bombard" instead, since the Cannon is a 19th century unit, so it's too strong and too early with Gunpowder (there are about 300 years between the two).
2) Grenadier: this is not specific to HiTM, but it would have been nice to see it fixed. A Grenadier is historically insignificant, but I agree that it should be in to maintain the rock-scissors-paper balance. However, the Grenadier should absolutely not be available earlier than the Rifleman, since the Grenadier was invented as a counter to tight formations in the age of mass armies. I normally change the requirement to Military Science AND Rifling, as well as reduce it to 25% vs. Riflemen and give it 25% city attack/defense.
Besides these then i'm not a great fan of the stable building, since I assume that this makes the AI so darn happy about cavalry.
As a result, I made a bunch of changes to vanilla BTS and I was pleased to notice, that it actually made the AI create balanced stacks, which were a real good challenge.
I'm about to implement these changes in HiTM, but thought it might be an idea to list them here as a suggestion first - in the hope that the general idea and perhaps some of the changes are agreeable.
Here we go:
Unit Changes
Ancient:
-new unit: Light Spearman (Str 3, 50% vs. mounted, 25% vs. melee, 35 hammers, Hunting)
-remove siege tower or nerf it
Middle-ages:
- change Pikeman to Heavy Sperman (same stats except reduce to 75% vs. mounted)
The age of gunpowder:
- new unit: Pikeman (Str 8, 50% vs. mounted, 50% vs. melee, 130 hammers, Firearms or Military Science?)
- change Musketman to Str 10
- move cannon to Rifling
- new unit: Bombard (Str 8, 50% city attack, 130 hammers, Gunpowder) - 25% chance that it self-destructs
- (not sure if a late swordsman e.g. Zwei-hander/Sword n' Buckler type is needed/nice)
The age of mass armies:
- change Grenadier (requires Military Science AND Rifling, 25% vs. Rifleman, 25% city strenght)
- change cavalry to Str 14
The Modern Age:
tbc.
General changes to cavalry:
- all cavalry receive -25% city strenght
- all cavalry receive Flanking Strike against Catapult/Trebuchet (except Horse Archer)
- Cuirasser and Cavalry receive Flanking Strike against Bombard and Cannon
- all cavalry receive 25% attack AND defense vs. siege units from same age and below (except Horse Archer)
Building Changes
Overview of military buildings:
1)Training Ground
2a) Barracks
2b) Stable
3) Gunsmith
4a) Military Industrial Complex
5a) Advanced Infantry Training
5b) Advanced Armour Training
2c) Shipyard
4b) Drydock
5c) Naval Academy
5d) Airforce Academy
Details of changes and additions:
1)Training Ground replaces Barracks (same tech, 2 XPs, 45 hammers, obsolete with rifling)
2a) Barracks (metal casting, 3 XPs for archery, melee and gunpowder, 90 hammers, obsolete with rifling)
3) Gunsmith (gunpowder, 2 XP's gunpowder, 120 hammers, obsolete with rifling)
4a) Military Industrial Complex (rifling, 5 XP's for land and air, 180 hammers)
2b) Stable (same tech, 3 XPs for mounted, obsolete with rifling)
5a) Advanced Infantry Training (Industrialism, 2 XPs for gunpowder)
5b) Advanced Armour Training (Industrialism, 2 XPs for armoured)
5c) Airforce Academy (Flight, 2 XPs for air and heli)
5d) Naval Academy (Radio, 2 XPs for naval)
Many thanks - sorry about the long post
Best regards,
KPII
If it works, go for it. I was straying on the cautious side of safe, as it may cause errors later on as you said, and a civ written by another person may not work in the exact same way as ones from CIV GOLD. If there were any major discrepencies between tags in the xml's, it probably wouldn't load in the first place anyway.
)....thanks for the info
. I'm learning the "innards" of HiTM a bit more every day, I just haven't time to really sit down and completely take it apart as such...
